The original Italian restaurant on a corner of the Plaza at this seaside resort near the South Airport has been replaced by a Galician eating house.

The Recuncho has an elegant inner dining room, upstairs, and a covered terrace outside, from which a marvellous view of the sea front at El Médano is obtained. The menu is vast. I counted 28 Starters, five Platos Ibericos, 15 Seafood dishes, 14 Fresh Fish dishes (all the fish here is fresh, nothing frozen I was assured), three different Rice dishes, 10 Meat dishes, seven Puddings and a riot of extras.
   The wine list is impressive: wines from the Canaries, peninsular Ribero del Duero, the Rioja, Cava from Cataluña, and real French champagne. There are also White wines from the Rias Baixas (Galicia). From Castilla y Leon there is a Mauro at 42 euros, and, should you be feeling prosperous, there is a Carraovejas from Ribero del Duero at 43. The Cavas were seven, including a Juve Reserva at 26.50 euros. The French provide Veuve Cliquot (€52), Moet et Chandon (€42) and Taittinger (€58)!
   Having studied the left hand side of the menu, my wife and I took a look at the all-important right hand side. Oh dear. What looks from its outside appearance to be a simple beachside café, with minute paper napkins of the sort you could hide in the palm of your hand, wobbly tables for four and abundant flies, has prices that hail straight from Madrid, not from Vigo as we would have guessed from the name.
   Never mind eh! My wife chose a simple bowl of Caldo Gallego and I chose the Pulpo a la Gallega for starters. We had already decided to enjoy a small glass of the café's own white wine. When it came, it was discovered to be a measly drop of wine in a very large glass. Oh dear again.  
   For our main courses we chose Brocheta de Pescado and Lubina a la Plancha. The latter was my choice, and the amiable waiter had informed me that anything else on the plate was charged for apart (distinctly NOT a Canary Island custom). I plumped for Papas Arrugadas with a nod towards the Canaries. They were delicious looking and tasting. So were our starters and main dishes, though we had to wait an unconscionable time for them after we finished the starters. This may have been because every table on the terrace was taken, but neither of us can be counted on for good temper if there is a gap of forty-four minutes between one's Pulpo and one's Lubina.
   This restaurant has only recently arrived in El Médano, and I wish the owners the very best of luck. They might have to think again about selling Ritz-priced dishes in an ordinary beachside café with the majority of lunchers wearing bathing things.
   I had drained my thimbleful of wine with one unsatisfactory gulp, so  had to order another. The bill for two of us without a proper bottle of wine, puddings, coffee and other alcoholic extras came to nearly fifty euros. A third oh dear, don't you think?
 
by Dean and Mrs Swift
Tenerife News edition 421